Here is an interesting ditty on the phenomenon of chariot racing in Augustine's day:

"There was always the same insensate roaring of the crowd, the same wild gambling, the same passionate partisanship for one of the four colours, the same fury of disappointment on the part of those whose colour had lost, the same everlasting quarrels when partisans shouted up the colours they favored, the same adoration of a popular charioteer, the same kind of mass magnetism that a champion of sport always seems to command; there was the same never-ending chatter about favorites and fancies."